Sarah Milosevic was due to give birth in just one week when her unborn baby girl died in a crash caused by a drunk driver.
The Guardian reports that the driver, Rodney Leigh Shaw, 33, was convicted of driving offenses, fined $950 and had his licenses suspended for five months but nothing more. In Australia, where the incident occurred, unborn babies are not recognized as victims of violence under the law.
That’s something Milosevic is on a mission to change. The grieving mother created an online petition calling for Australian legislators to grant full human rights for unborn babies after 30 weeks gestation, according to the report. Her petition has more than 93,000 signatures so far, the report states.
The accident that killed Milosevic’s unborn daughter, Sophie Ella, occurred on Aug. 29, 2014, when Sarah and her husband, Peter, were traveling in Marsden, Australia, the report states. Baby Sophie died in the womb and was stillborn at 39 weeks gestation as a result of the accident.
The report continues:
On Wednesday Milosevic announced she had secured a meeting with Queensland attorney-general, Yvette D’Ath.
… In a statement accompanying her online petition, Milosevic said Sophie was stillborn after the crash and said the following 18 months had been “hell”.
“Instead of bringing my baby girl home I had to plan her funeral – I was that close to the end of my pregnancy,” she said.
“And now the man responsible gets away with it because she was stillborn and has no rights in a court of law. I want that law changed. I want all babies past 30 weeks of gestation to have the right to be classed as a human being. I want pregnant women protected against acts of violence and against their babies dying because of an avoidable cause.”
The Queensland mother is calling her proposal “Sophie’s law.” A similar effort, called Zoe’s law, also was proposed two months ago by another woman who lost her unborn child in a vehicle crash with a drugged driver, the report states. Baby Zoe was 32 weeks along in the womb when she was killed in the accident.
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Tragically, though Milosevic wants recognition for her unborn daughter’s life, she said she does not want the law to restrict other women’s decisions to abort their unborn babies.
“Please note, I do not want to affect a woman’s right to abortion or have a pregnancy terminated for any medical reasons,” Milosevic said.
Pro-lifers have joined the effort to recognize later-term unborn babies in Australia. In 2014, they attempted to pass a bill to recognize unborn babies after 20 weeks gestation, the report states. Unfortunately, abortion activists attacked the bill, and the measure failed, the report states.
Some U.S. States also do not recognize unborn victims of violence. Last year, a horrific case in Colorado prompted its state legislature to consider passing a law to protect unborn babies who are victims of crimes; however, abortion advocates also managed to kill that bill.
The case involved Dynel Catrece Lane, who was arrested after she attacked a pregnant woman and cut her 7-month-old unborn baby from her womb. In this unbelievable act of violence, the baby died but the mother, Michelle Wilkins, survived.
As LifeNews has reported, the Colorado woman who cut out the 7-month-old unborn baby from Wilkins’ abdomen was not charged with murder.
Colorado state law does not regard unborn children as human beings who deserve justice when they are killed. In 2013, Colorado Democrats also killed a bill that would have added the state to the list of more than 25 states that provide justice and protection for pregnant women and unborn children. Pro-abortion groups Planned Parenthood and NARAL opposed the bill.
